A first in India! Robots to mark maiden anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi Swachhata Mission

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Ahmedabad-based Robotics Club of Indus University is organising a unique and a first-of-its-kind event – ‘Clean India show by Robots’ on October 2, 2015 to mark the first anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi Swachhata Mission day. Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of Nation, life’s mantra has always been ‘Cleanliness is Godliness’. Throughout his life, he demonstrated, propagated and insisted for individual and community cleanliness.

When Swachh Bharat Mission was launched throughout the country as a national movement on October 2, 2014 at Rajpath in New Delhi, he rightly said, “A clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th Birth Anniversary in 2019.” And Indus University Robocon 2016 Event is a revolutionary step towards a Cleaner India.

Rheanne Bison, a Canadian social worker, will be the Chief Guest for the Event.

Speaking to Entrepreneur India before the inaugural day of the Event, Vatsal Shah, Captain, Indus Robotics Club, says, “As an Indian and as an Engineering student, innovation and creativity is in our DNA. The importance of this event is to make a difference in the world and show our technology, creativity and innovation in our own way.”

Further asking about the inspiration behind launching such an initiative, Vatsal shares, “Our PM Narendra Modi gave a noble and people-centric call of ‘Swachh Bharat’ one year back on Gandhi Jayanti. We, as the youth of India, feel that after initial euphoria and photo sessions, people forgot their duties towards keeping their own nearby (Home, offices, markets etc.) environment clean. So we decided to use this same day of Gandhi Jayanti to reinforce the message in the language of machines i.e., robots.”

Robotic Display

During the show, around 40 robots will be on wire control on the field for cleaning and 10 robots will sketch Mahatma Gandhi’s image on the ground. This will be followed by 5 robots filling up the colors in letters of ‘Swachhata Mission’.

Further, over 11 robots will be engaged in making the National Flag on the ground. Different types of mechanisms will be involved in the Race Robot – deployed for Cleaning, Wet Cleaning, Filling colors, etc. At the start, about 7 robots will come first to clean the floor with dry cloth. Next in line will be 7 other robots for cleaning the floor with water and wet cloth. “We have both dry and wet mechanisms in place for the robots to clean wet waste, dry waste, garbage filling colors and other activities,” Vatsal adds further.

Post event, the students plan to present some of the robots to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation for use, while the rest will be used by students for cleaning purpose at Indus University campus.

Sharing his thoughts on the same, Jagat Shah, Member - Board of Governors, Indus University, and Founder & Chief Mentor, Global Network, shares “The robots being made by students of Indus University will do the cleaning on Gandhi Jayanti and will send a message to humans to clean up their mother earth. Such initiatives by students not only bring technological innovation in their thinking process, but also lead to a societal sensitive in the hearts and minds of students. Today's youth are the future of India and are determined to live in a clean world."

When asked about how the Robocon 2016 project was funded, Vatsal informs, “All the funding till date has been arranged by the Indus Robotics Club of 80 students and Indus University. For future funding, several corporate have expressed their interest to support the initiative under their CSR funding.” Representatives from repute organisations like Electrotherm India Ltd., Adani Group, Cadila, Torrent, Global Network, Cluster Pulse, Welspun, Government of Manitoba, Canada, and many SMEs would be a part of the event.